Effects of temperature on the location of the gas–liquid interface in a PEM fuel cell

The objective of this study is to investigate the location of the gas–liquid interface at various temperatures in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell under non-isothermal conditions. A mathematical model, coupled with the electrochemical process, two-phase flows, species transfer, and heat transfer is employed. A finite volume-based CFD approach is applied to investigate the species transport behavior in a fuel cell. The effects of two model parameters, namely cell temperature (T_cell) and humidification temperature (T_h), on the gas–liquid interface and cell performance are presented. Simulation results indicate that variations of these two parameters influence the location of the gas–liquid interface, the cell performance, and the distribution of liquid water saturation. At lower cell temperatures, the gas–liquid interface moves toward the inlet port of the channel when the humidification temperature is greater than the cell temperature. Therefore, the cell performance decreases as the liquid water clogs the passage for the transport of oxygen. Furthermore, these two factors are closely related to the membrane temperature distribution. Obvious variations in magnitude are seen at a cell temperature of 323 K and a humidification temperature of 343 K.     

Liquid cooling based on thermal silica plate for battery thermal management system

To achieve safe, long lifetime, and high‐performance lithium‐ion batteries, a battery thermal management system (BTMS) is indispensable. This is especially required for enabling fast charging‐discharging and in aggressive operating conditions. In this research, a new type of battery cooling system based on thermal silica plates has been designed for prismatic lithium‐ion batteries. Experimental and simulations are combined to investigate the cooling capability of the BTMS associated to different number of cooling channels, flow rates, and flow directions while at different discharge C‐rates. Results show that the maximum temperature reached within the battery decreases as the amount of thermal silica plates and liquid channels increases. The flow direction had no significant influence on the cooling capability. While the performance obviously improves with the increase in inlet flow rate, after a certain threshold, the gain reduces strongly so that it does not anymore justify the higher energy cost. Discharged at 3 C‐rate, an inlet flow rate of 0.1 m/s was sufficient to efficiently cool down the system; discharged at 5 C‐rate, the optimum inlet flow rate was 0.25 m/s. Simulations could accurately reproduce experimental results, allowing for an efficient design of the liquid‐cooled BTMS.     

Sub‐channel analysis for Pb‐Bi‐cooled direct contact boiling water fast reactor

Pb‐Bi‐cooled direct contact boiling water fast reactor (PBWFR) featured with a direct‐contact heat exchanger between lead‐bismuth eutectic coolant and water could significantly simplify the primary system and enhance the natural circulation capability, meeting the potential needs for small modular reactor design. It is of great importance to conduct thermal‐hydraulic analysis of the PBWFR core in detail. In this paper, a self‐developed SUB‐channel AnalysiS code SUBAS is adopted to study the thermal hydraulic characteristics of the PBWFR core. The fidelity and the reliability of the code have been preliminarily benchmarked. With SUBAS, the space grid is studied to figure out its impact on the temperature and flow distributions in each sub‐channel. Besides, the application of space grids would increase the pressure drops and decreases the cross flow between adjacent sub‐channels. To study the transient performance of the PBWFR core, the power transient and the inlet blockage accident are calculated by SUBAS. The results of the power transient show the cross‐flow effect would be weakened in the sub‐channel which has higher coolant temperature and larger mass flow rate. For the inlet blockage accident, the results indicate the influence of the small area blockage is relatively weak on the overall performance of the assembly but is significant on the local parameters. With consideration of time and space, the blockage influence only exists in a certain area. This research may provide contribution to the design of PBWFR.     

Energy and exergy analyses of a two‐stage vapour compression refrigeration system

In this paper exergy analysis of two‐stage vapour compression refrigeration (VCR) system has been carried out with an objective to evaluate optimum inter‐stage temperature (pressure) for refrigerants HCFC22, R410A and R717. A thermodynamic model based on the principles of mass, energy and exergy balances is developed for this purpose. The computed results illustrate the effects of evaporation and condensation temperatures, isentropic efficiencies of compressors, sub‐cooling of refrigerant and superheating of suction vapour on optimum inter‐stage saturation temperature (pressure). The optimum inter‐stage saturation temperatures (pressures) for HCFC22 and R410A are proximate to arithmetic mean of evaporation and condensation temperatures (AMT) when assuming superheating of suction vapour and non‐isentropic compression processes in low‐pressure and high‐pressure compressors. The optimum inter‐stage saturation temperatures (pressures) for HCFC22 and R410A are near to geometric mean of evaporation and condensation temperatures (GMT) when it is assumed that cycle involves the effects of sub‐cooling, superheating of suction vapour and non‐isentropic compression of the suction vapour. The optimum inter‐stage saturation temperature (pressure) for R717 is close to GMT irrespective of sub‐cooling, superheating of suction vapour and non‐isentropic compression in the cycle. The efficiency defects, computed corresponding to optimum inter‐stage temperature in condenser is higher in comparison to the other components. Finally, it is deduced that R717 is a better alternative refrigerant to HCFC22 than R410A in two‐stage VCR system. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Treatment of two-phase flow in cathode gas channel for an improved one-dimensional proton exchange membrane fuel cell model

It has been reported recently that water flooding in the cathode gas channel has significant effects on the characteristics of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell. A better understanding of this phenomenon with the aid of an accurate model is necessary for improving the water management and performance of fuel cell. However, this phenomenon is often not considered in the previous one-dimensional models where zero or a constant liquid water saturation level is assumed at the interface between gas diffusion layer and gas channel. In view of this, a one-dimensional fuel cell model that includes the effects of two-phase flow in the gas channel is proposed. The liquid water saturation along the cathode gas channel is estimated by adopting Darcy’s law to describe the convective flow of liquid water under various inlet conditions, i.e. air pressure, relative humidity and air stoichiometry. The averaged capillary pressure of gas channel calculated from the liquid water saturation is used as the boundary value at the interface to couple the cathode gas channel model to the membrane electrode assembly model. Through the coupling of the two modeling domains, the water distribution inside the membrane electrode assembly is associated with the inlet conditions. The simulation results, which are verified against experimental data and simulation results from a published computational fluid dynamics model, indicate that the effects of relative humidity and stoichiometry of inlet air are crucial to the overall fuel cell performance. The proposed model gives a more accurate treatment of the water transport in the cathode region, which enables an improved water management through an understanding of the effects of inlet conditions on the fuel cell performance.     

Water immersion cooling of PV cells in a high concentration system

Temperature control of solar cells at high concentrations is a key issue. Short-term efficiency drop and long-term degradation should be avoided by effective cooling methods. Liquid immersion cooling eliminates the contact thermal resistance of back cooling and should improve cell performance. A 250X dish concentrator with two-axis tracking was utilized to evaluate a new CPV system using de-ionized water for immersion cooling. Time-dependent temperature distributions of the PV module of high power back point-contact cells were measured, as well as the I-V curves. The cooling capacities of the liquid immersion approach are very favorable. The module temperature can be cooled to 45 °C at a 940 W/m² direct normal irradiance, 17 °C ambient temperature and 30 °C water inlet temperature. The temperature distribution of the module is quite uniform, but the electrical performance of the cell module degrades after a fairly long time immersion in the de-ionized water.     

Thermal management of solid oxide fuel cells with liquid metal

Effective thermal management of SOFCs is necessary for their long life and highly efficient operation, while the conventional method through excess air cooling is limited due to the inherently low thermal conductivity and capacity of air. In this study, a novel temperature control strategy is proposed by using liquid metal as a new kind of coolant that can work in both the stable operation stage and start-stop stage of an SOFC stack. A three-dimensional model is developed considering chemical/electrochemical reactions, mass, momentum and heat transfer processes to assess the effect of liquid metal cooling. The simulation results show that liquid metal has an excellent ability to improve the temperature uniformity and electric performance of the cell unit. The temperature difference of the cell unit cooled by air cooling is 60 K, which can be decreased to 15 K with liquid tin cooling. Furthermore, inlet air has little effect on the performance of the cell unit when liquid metal is chosen as coolant. The pumping powers of the air and liquid metal are compared at different excess air ratios and inlet velocities of liquid metal. The total pumping power consumption could be dramatically decreased when liquid metal is utilized as the coolant. Furthermore, the variations in the conductivity, heat capacity and convective resistance at different liquid metal inlet velocities are discussed.     

Analyses of heat and water transport interactions in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

A two-phase non-isothermal model is developed to explore the interaction between heat and water transport phenomena in a PEM fuel cell. The numerical model is a two-dimensional simulation of the two-phase flow using multiphase mixture formulation in a single-domain approach. For this purpose, a comparison between non-isothermal and isothermal fuel cell models for inlet oxidant streams at different humidity levels is made. Numerical results reveal that the temperature distribution would affect the water transport through liquid saturation amount generated and its location, where at the voltage of 0.55 V, the maximum temperature difference is 3.7 °C. At low relative humidity of cathode, the average liquid saturation is higher and the liquid free space is smaller for the isothermal compared with the non-isothermal model. When the inlet cathode is fully humidified, the phase change will appear at the full face of cathode GDL layer, whereas the maximum liquid saturation is higher for the isothermal model. Also, heat release due to condensation of water vapor and vapor-phase diffusion which provide a mechanism for heat removal from the cell, affect the temperature distribution. Instead in the two-phase zone, water transport via vapor-phase diffusion due to the temperature gradient. The results are in good agreement with the previous theoretical works done, and validated by the available experimental data.     

Winter Turf Growing Season Elongation Characteristics of a Thermosyphon Unit that Uses a Shallow Geothermal Source

Low temperature stress is an important factor for turf growth in the northern high‐latitude environment. A thermosyphon temperature controlling unit with a shallow geothermal source was proposed by analyzing present techniques to prolong the turf growing season in winter. Thermosyphon unit prototypes were developed and tested in a water park. The relations between ambient temperature, depth, material, structure, underground temperature, and root temperature were studied experimentally. The thermosyphon unit performance was analyzed. Results indicate that underground and root temperatures remain almost constant with an hourly ambient temperature. The root temperature remains steady due to the thermosyphon unit application. The underground temperature increases with the depth increase, and the increment is at most 1 °C. The root temperature of a copper thermosyphon unit is higher than that of a steel thermosyphon unit, and the temperature difference can reach 2 °C. The root temperature of a type I thermosyphon unit is higher than that of a type II, and the temperature increase is less than 1 °C. The root temperature variation due to the thermosyphon material is smaller with the increase in depth.     

Analysis of parameters affecting the performance of gas turbines and combined cycle plants with vapor absorption inlet air cooling

The integration of an aqua‐ammonia inlet air‐cooling scheme to a cooled gas turbine‐based combined cycle has been analyzed. The heat energy of the exhaust gas prior to the exit of the heat recovery steam generator has been chosen to power the inlet air‐cooling system. Dual pressure reheat heat recovery steam generator is chosen as the combined cycle configuration. Air film cooling has been adopted as the cooling technique for gas turbine blades. A parametric study of the effect of compressor–pressure ratio, compressor inlet temperature, turbine inlet temperature, ambient relative humidity, and ambient temperature on performance parameters of plants has been carried out. It has been observed that vapor absorption inlet air cooling improves the efficiency of gas turbine by upto 7.48% and specific work by more than 18%, respectively. However, on the adoption of this scheme for combined cycles, the plant efficiency has been observed to be adversely affected, although the addition of absorption inlet air cooling results in an increase in plant output by more than 7%. The optimum value of compressor inlet temperature for maximum specific work output has been observed to be 25 °C for the chosen set of conditions. Further reduction of compressor inlet temperature below this optimum value has been observed to adversely affect plant efficiency. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental validation of two-phase pressure drop multiplier as a diagnostic tool for characterizing PEM fuel cell performance

Water management is a key area of interest in improving the performance of Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells. Cell flooding and membrane dehydration are two extreme conditions arising from poor water management. Pressure drop has been recognized as a good diagnostic tool to determine the presence of liquid water in the reactant channels. Presence of liquid water in the channels increases the mass transport resistances and therefore reduces the cell performance, which is quantified by the cell voltage at a set current density. Since the two-phase pressure drop multiplier is uniquely related to the water content in the channel, it serves as a good diagnostic tool for directly predicting the cell performance. Experiments are carried out to establish the relationship between the pressure drop multiplier and cell voltage at different operating conditions. Cell temperature was varied from 30 °C to 80 °C and the inlet RH was varied from 0 to 95%. At the lower temperatures, a two-phase multiplier below 1.5 reduces flooding in the flow field. However, at the higher temperatures, a two-phase flow multiplier above 1.2 is preferred as it indicates the membrane remains hydrated for improved performance from the cell. The two-phase pressure drop multiplier has been successfully demonstrated as a diagnostic tool to predict cell flooding and membrane dehydration.     

Performance of a gas engine heat pump (GEHP) using R410A for heating and cooling applications

A gas engine heat pump (GEHP) represents one of the most practicable systems which improve the overall energy utilization efficiency and reduce the operating cost for heating and cooling applications. The present work aimed at evaluating the performance of a GEHP for air-conditioning and hot water supply. In order to achieve this objective, a test facility was developed and experiments were performed over a wide range of engine speed (1200 rpm–1750 rpm), ambient air temperature (24.1 °C–34.8 °C), evaporator water flow rate (1.99 m³/h–3.6 m³/h) and evaporator water inlet temperature (12.2 °C–23 °C). Performance characteristics of the GEHP were characterized by water outlet temperatures, cooling capacity, heating capacity and primary energy ratio (PER). The results showed that the effect of evaporator water inlet temperature on the system performance is more significant than the effects of ambient air temperature and evaporator water flow rate. PER of the considered system at evaporator water inlet temperature of 23 °C is higher than that one at evaporator water inlet temperature of 12.2 °C by about 22%. PER of the system decreases by 16% when engine speed changes from 1200 rpm to 1750 rpm.     

Comparative study of high concentrating photovoltaics integrated with phase‐change liquid film cooling system

In high concentrating photovoltaic systems, thermal regulation is of great importance to the conversion efficiency and the safety of solar cells. Direct‐contact liquid film cooling technique is an effective way of thermal regulation with low initial investment. Tilt of solar cells is common in concentrating solar systems. An evaluation of direct‐contact liquid film cooling technique behind tilted high concentration photovoltaics was performed using both experimental and computational approaches. In the experiment, deionized water was used as the coolant at the back of simulated solar cells. Solar cell inclination of 0° to 75° with inlet water flow rate of 100–300 L/hour and inlet temperature of 30°C to 75°C were experimentally investigated. A two‐dimensional model was developed using computational fluid dynamics technique and validated by experimental results. The effects of inclination on average temperature, temperature uniformity, and heat transfer coefficient were discovered in this paper. The results indicated that 20° is the optimum angle for liquid film cooling. In addition, optimum inlet width, temperature, and velocity for inclination over 30° are 0.75 mm, 75°C, and 0.855 m/s, respectively.     

Phase change in the cathode side of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

A three-dimensional steady state two-phase non-isothermal model which highly couples the water and thermal management has been developed to numerically investigate the spatial distribution of the interfacial mass transfer phase-change rate in the cathode side of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). A non-equilibrium evaporation-condensation phase change rate was incorporated in the model which allowed supersaturation and undersaturation take place. The most significant effects of phase-change rate on liquid saturation and temperature distributions are highlighted. A parametric study was also carried out to investigate the effects of operating conditions; namely as the channel inlet humidity, cell operating temperature, and inlet mass flow rate on the phase-change rate. It was also found that liquid phase assumption for produced water in the cathode catalyst layer (CL) changed the local distribution of phase-change rate. The maximum evaporation rate zone (above the channel near the CL) coincided with the maximum temperature zone and resulted in lowering the liquid saturation level. Furthermore, reduction of the channel inlet humidity and an increase of the operation temperature and inlet mass flow rate increased the evaporation rate and allowed for dehydration process of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) to take place faster.     

Applications of Thermal Energy Storage in Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, the heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system typically accounts for 65% of the total electrical energy consumption in buildings. This is due to a very high ambient temperature which persists for a long period of time in a summer season. Moreover, gas turbines efficiency decrease also with the high ambient temperatures. In the HVAC industry cool storage, or commonly known as Thermal Energy Storage (TES) is the most preferred demand side management (DSM) technology for shifting cooling electrical demand from peak daytime periods to off‐peak night‐time. The most popular and well‐suited TES concept for Saudi Arabia is either chilled water or ice storage system, depending upon the applications and the required storage capacity. This paper shows how TES offers a means of reducing the electrical demand in large commercial buildings. Additionally, it is seen that efficiencies of the air cooled chillers are increased if they run overnight. Similarly efficiencies of gas turbine is also increased when a TES based pre‐cooled air is used as an inlet to the turbine. This paper also discusses favouring conditions and other aspects of cool storage applications in Saudi Arabia. TES economics are considered and a cost analysis is presented to illustrate the potential savings that can be achieved by the use of TES in Saudi Arabia. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical study of heat transfer and sulfuric acid decomposition in the process of hydrogen production

The sulfuric acid decomposer is the key equipment of the iodine‐sulfur cycle to achieve hydrogen production utilizing high temperature of very high‐temperature gas‐cooled reactor (VHTR). This study discusses sulfuric acid decomposer design and pipeline layout to improve the performance of the sulfuric acid decomposer based on a shell‐and‐tube heat exchanger with a bayonet heat exchanger as the core. The finite volume method was used to numerically calculate the heat transfer, temperature distribution, baffle layout, and sulfur trioxide decomposition rate in the sulfuric acid decomposer. The results show that the convective heat transfer coefficient of the fully developed section of the sulfuric acid decomposer for the given conditions is about 10 W·m^?2·K^?1 and the average temperature of the sulfuric acid in the catalyst region is about 1040 K. For the design, the inlet manifold plate effectively distributes the inlet helium, while the staggered baffles in the shell and tube heat exchanger increase the heat transfer area and improve the helium distribution to enhance the heat transfer. The prediction shows that the sulfur trioxide decomposition rate is about 60% in the catalyst region under design VHTR condition, which is in agreement with experimental measurement under corresponding temperature and space velocity. The results provide a reference for the design of sulfuric acid decomposers for VHTR.     

Solidification in a water‐saturated porous medium when convection is present (response of solid‐liquid interface due to time‐varying cooling temperature)

A fundamental study on solidifying phenomenon in a rectangular space filled with water‐saturated porous medium has been carried out with a system, cooled from the upper boundary and heated from below, where vigorous convection develops in the un‐solidified liquid layer. The dynamic response of the solid‐liquid interface to the periodical cooling temperature with the bottom boundary kept at constant temperature T_H = 20°C, is investigated experimentally. In particular, the amplitude of the interface and the phase lag in respect to the oscillating cooling temperature have been monitored for various periods and average temperatures. A one‐dimensional numerical model, based on an assumption of constant heat flux from the vigorously convecting liquid regime has been also developed. The numerical model predicts quite well the time‐dependent behavior of the horizontally averaged ice‐layer thickness observed in the experiments. Our general findings are that the amplitude increases proportionally to the temperature fluctuation period and that both the thicker solid layer and the shorter period cause greater phase lags. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 35(4): 294–308, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20109     

不同操作和环境条件下的PEMFC低温冷启动数值模拟研究

基于COMSOL建立质子交换膜燃料电池低温冷启动一维瞬态多物理场耦合模型,该模型考虑气态水和膜态水在0 ℃以下结冰来研究恒电压输出、恒电流输出、膜态水初始含量以及环境温度等不同操作和环境条件对质子交换膜燃料电池低温冷启动性能的影响。结果表明,恒电压输出模式下,低电压操作相对于高电压能产生更多的热,温度上升更快,但结冰速率也会激增,从而导致性能衰减更快;恒电流输出模式相较于恒电压能达到更高的温度,但需更好的气体传质能力;如果低温冷启动之前吹扫不足导致膜水含量较高,膜的储水能力下降,这将造成输出性能下降更快,不利于冷启动的成功进行;启动时环境温度的不同会直接影响燃料电池低温冷启动成功与否,仅依赖被动加热成功启动的初始环境温度存在极限值。     

动力电池微细通道散热数值分析研究

动力电池对温度敏感度高,高温散热实现难度较大,尤其是极端环境温度和高倍率放电下。设计了一个微细通道电池液冷散热系统,针对系统进行不同放置方式、环境温度、冷却液入口温度、入口流速的影响研究。发现竖直方式电池组可获得较好的温度分布;环境温度变化对电池组温度变化影响较小;电池组温度与冷却液入口温度基本呈线性变化,冷却液入口流速增加可显著降低电池组最高温度,提高温度均匀性。最后对流道进行尺寸优化,增大高度是较好的优化方案。     

Improved energy performance of air cooled centrifugal chillers with variable chilled water flow

This paper considers how to apply optimum condensing temperature control and variable chilled water flow to increase the coefficient of performance (COP) of air cooled centrifugal chillers. A thermodynamic model for the chillers was developed and validated using a wide range of operating data and specifications. The model considers real process phenomena, including capacity control by the inlet guide vanes of the compressor and an algorithm to determine the number and speed of condenser fans staged based on a set point of condensing temperature. Based on the validated model, it was found that optimizing the control of condensing temperature and varying the evaporator’s chilled water flow rate enable the COP to increase by 0.8–191.7%, depending on the load and ambient conditions. A cooling load profile of an office building in a subtropical climate was considered to assess the potential electricity savings resulting from the increased chiller COP and optimum staging of chillers and pumps. There is 16.3–21.0% reduction in the annual electricity consumption of the building’s chiller plant. The results of this paper provide useful information on how to implement a low energy chiller plant.